Need summer travel plans? This website is the Airbnb of camping (and glamping)

Abigail Rosenthal, GateHouse Media

Thursday

Jun 13, 2019 at 12:01 AM

An avid camper all her life, Hipcamp founder and CEO Alyssa Ravasio just wanted to make it easier for people to get outside. It was hard to find campsites and even tons of research could result in an unsuccessful excursion.

It was an experience she had herself. After spending hours looking for a campsite on the beach where she could watch the first sunrise of 2013, she finally found one, but arrived unintentionally unprepared to Andrew Molera State Park on the Big Sur coast. With big waves crashing in front of her, Ravasio just wished she had her surfboard. If only she had known the beach was also a great spot for a wave.

With that in mind, she decided to launch Hipcamp, a campsite booking platform that connects campers with private landowners who can provide the perfect camping spot — Airbnb for camping, if you will. Since its founding in 2013, Hipcamp has grown to over 300,000 campsite listings on its website and iOS app, which includes 100,000 sites available for camping on private land.

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And it's not just your average tent plot. By opening Hipcamp to private landowners, users can experience camping at sites like vineyards, working farms and ranches, animal sanctuaries and more luxurious "glamping" sites.

"It really opens up the spectrum of experiences you can have outside," Ravasio said. Users can filter campsites to find those with specific amenities, like Wi-Fi, showers onsite or the ability to bring pets along to the trip, last-minute available spots and sites near specific parks or attractions.

Opening up the site to private landowners also allows people to support the farmers and landowners who are looking to keep their land undeveloped, providing valuable wildlife habitats, Ravasio said. Hipcamp encourages campers to "leave it better," continuing the goal of a clean and enjoyable outdoors.

Camping isn't getting any less popular, even in the digital age — more than 78.8 million households went camping at least once in 2018, according to the 2019 North American Camping Report. Out of that, 41% of campers are millennials.

Ravasio herself tries to go camping almost every weekend, with a journal, chocolate and the essentials in hand.

"I really believe getting outside is essential to a happy and healthy human life," she said.